adverse childhood experiences
Definition
Adverse childhood experiences refers to stressful and potentially traumatic events occurring before the age of eighteen, encompassing psychological, physical, or sexual abuse, neglect, domestic abuse, household dysfunction, community violence, and exposure to substance abuse or mental illness within the home. Estimates suggest that approximately 39% of the global population retrospectively report at least one such experience, with disproportionate exposure among children in fragile and conflict-affected settings. ACEs carry documented consequences for emotional regulation, stress-response systems, and cognitive development, and are associated with violence perpetration, criminal behavior, and a range of adverse health outcomes across the life course. Household dysfunction, defined as witnessing harm or violence within the home, and maltreatment, defined as directly experiencing harm or violence, constitute one organizational framework, with subsequent expansions incorporating broader social and environmental adversities. Research is now extending this framework to violent extremism, where individuals supporting or engaging in extremist groups show higher ACE prevalence than the general population, with household dysfunction emerging as the most commonly reported adversity domain.
Sources: Pammi et al. (2026)
Related Terms
- violent extremism (1 shared article)
- radicalization (1 shared article)
- mental health (1 shared article)
- trauma (1 shared article)
Applications
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Violent Extremism
A scoping review of 23 studies totaling 4,946 individuals found that violent extremism populations, spanning right-wing, left-wing, Islamist, white supremacist, and other groups, exhibited higher rates of ACEs than general population base rates of roughly 38 to 39%. Among US right-wing extremist samples, up to 70% reported four or more ACEs, and one study found that ACEs were associated with involvement in terrorist violence at an odds ratio of 2.08. ACEs can produce many different behavioral outcomes, and ACE rates in extremist samples were not consistently higher than those observed in comparable groups such as violent offenders or gang members, indicating that ACEs alone do not determine a pathway into violent extremism.
Sources: Pammi et al. (2026)
Adverse Childhood Experiences and Radicalization
Current accounts propose that ACEs may contribute to radicalization by impairing emotional regulation and increasing vulnerability to maladaptive coping, or by disrupting early attachment relationships and motivating affiliation with extremist groups that offer a sense of belonging. Continuation in education has emerged as a potential protective factor moderating the ACE-radicalization relationship, reaching statistical significance at p less than 0.05 in at least one study. The causal mechanisms and developmental pathways linking ACEs to radicalization remain poorly specified, and the existing literature calls for longitudinal designs and standardized measurement tools to clarify these processes.
Sources: Pammi et al. (2026)
